Valentine’s Day is a holiday that loads of people love to hate. It’s the epitome of how commercialism corrupts the things precious to us. A whole holiday dedicated to love? Shouldn’t we be dedicated to love every single day of our existence? This can be a tough day for those who have lost their paramour or who don’t have one but want to. For those in relationships, there are loads of expectations and the anxiety of not doing just the right thing for your Valentine can be crippling. That’s a lot of negative emotion to be associated with a holiday, so I think those of us in the blogging community should do a little something to reclaim this day from the forces of darkness. Hence, the next Adventure Rules community event: Secret Valentine!

Ask anyone in the WordPress game blogging community and they’ll tell you the same thing – these people are awesome. I have never in my time as a user of the internet found another group of people who support each other’s creative endeavors to this level. I’ve made connections with people from across the planet and talked to them about this amazing hobby we all share together, and done so in a way that is intelligent and respectful from start to finish. You’d be hard-pressed to find a group of folks that can match this group of bloggers, and Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to show all of them some much-needed appreciation.

YAY, A COMMUNITY EVENT! WHAT DO I DO?
Here’s how the event will work. The comment section of this post will serve as the sign-up list for the event – leave me a comment telling me you’re interested, linking your blog, and if possible please include your Twitter handle or blog e-mail so I have a way to get in contact with you directly. Sign-ups will be open until Wednesday night at 9 PM EST, giving you 60 hours to see this post and decide you want to join in. Once all the bloggers have signed up, I will randomly draw names and assign every participant a Valentine in secret. Your mission is to write an appreciation post for your Valentine, highlighting some of your favorite posts by them and sharing with the community why that person is awesome. Schedule it to be posted on Valentine’s Day, and then on Wednesday February 14th everyone will get to find out who their secret Valentine was!

“Ian, isn’t this just Secret Santa but for Valentine’s Day?”

Hey, I didn’t claim to have invented the game – I’m just the host of this party! I think it will be fun for all of us to get an opportunity to share the work of our amazing colleagues, plus the whole “who’s my Valentine?” thing will add a bit of mystery and excitement to the process.

Hey, it was either Secret Santa or a WordPress blogger dating simulator. You’re welcome.

SO WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW MY VALENTINE?As hard as it is to believe, some of the amazing people in this game-blogging community don’t know each other yet. It is possible that you could end up having to appreciate someone whose work you’ve never read before. If that happens, it’s a great opportunity to meet someone new and to learn what they’re about. Go check out their blog, read their posts, and find some things to appreciate about them. You can even tell us in your post about how you’d never met them before, incorporating that this was your first time reading their work into your appreciation of it. Because I’ll be doing this by chance, there’s no way to guarantee that you’ll know the person you’re appreciating – if that dissuades you from participating in the event, I understand. But I hope you’ll give it a chance, because getting the opportunity to share the love with someone you haven’t met yet could create new connections for you and expand your network!

OKAY, BUT WHAT IF I DON’T LIKE MY VALENTINE?I feel like this is less likely than the last question but I’ll still address it. Yes, it is possible that because the names are assigned randomly, you may end up having to appreciate someone that you honestly don’t think is that talented, or whose personality perhaps rubs you the wrong way. Maybe they’re a decent blogger but they only talk about X-Box games and you are an avid PS4 fanatic. Again, I hope that if this happens to you, you’ll use this opportunity to learn about something unfamiliar and through that gain an appreciation for your Valentine. If that’s not something you think you might be able to do, you might sit this event out.

If you come up with any questions I haven’t addressed here, feel free to ask me in the comments. If you’re super excited for this and want to sign up, leave a comment for that too. I hope that you’ll join up in the Secret Valentine project so that come February 14th, we’ll have bloggers from all over the place showing some love and appreciation for the other creatives who make this community as special as it is!

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Published by Robert Ian Shepard

Robert Ian Shepard is a husband, father, and aspiring writer. If you need a good laugh, check out his blog Adventure Rules, the Essential Companion of Heroic Adventurers!
View all posts by Robert Ian Shepard